Manu’s passing fancy (or fancy passing)

Here’s an anecdote that didn’t quite make the dead tree edition on Wednesday’s E-N …

Half an hour after the Spurs’ 117-99 trampling of Minnesota had ended, the Spurs’ locker room was still abuzz about Manu Ginobili’s Night of 1,000 Trick Passes. Three players were engaged in a raucous, though playful, back-and-forth debate about which one them should be featured as SportsCenter’s Play of the Day.

* George Hill, for being on the receiving end of Ginobili’s full-court, over-the-shoulder fling.

* DeJuan Blair, for being in the right place at the right time to snag Ginobili’s behind-the-back-while-falling-out-of-bounds dish.

All of them made a good case. Blair had perhaps the best one.

“He threw the ball behind his back through a space about like that,” Blair said, wide-eyed and holding his hands about a foot and a half apart. “It was amazing.”

They all agreed Jefferson would probably take home top honors. If chicks dig the long ball in baseball, they dig the slam dunk in basketball.

“He got a dunk,” Blair said. “So he’s probably No. 1.”

I’ve never heard a post-game locker room quite so abuzz about the exploits of one player. At one point, the trio drew assistant general manager Dell Demps into the conversation. Soon, Keith Bogans — who occupies the locker next to Hill’s — was chiming in on Ginobili’s near triple double (14 points, 10 assists, nine rebounds).

For a player whose biggest nemesis on the way back from injury problems is his own confidence, it was a significant night for Ginobili. After all, what spells confidence like threading pass after pass through the eye of a needle?

Ginobili had three solid games in a row now, preceded by two not-so-solid ones. He likes the trend, but isn’t prepared to declare himself all the way back just yet.

“I’m just looking to be steady and play overall better basketball,” he said. “Sometimes I can score, sometimes I won’t, but I can do a lot of things, so I’m very happy with the last three wins.”